Let's talk chisels

Hey,

while visiting last JNS gathering, Dan guided me on making my first saya. I'm pretty happy with results and really enjoyed the process. Now, when I back at home, I'd like to continue making sayas. The only tools I'm lacking are chisels. I know they could be as cool as some of high end kitchen knives (or even cooooler).

So, can you guys share your chisel pics and tell me why you like them and where I could get something as awesome.
I'm trying to do my homework on selecting good chisels on a budget, but I might just dive into another rabbit hole

What would Bugs Bunny do?

After doing my homework and digging KKF archives, I've found that chisels needs to be:
— bent for knuckle clearance and improved comfort while working
— flexible
— rounded a little bit

From personal experience I've found that longer handles adds much more comfort. So the obvious choice is getting 3/8" and 5/8" chisels from japanwoodworker.


Can't afford to spend that much, so going to order just 3/8 for now.
Would be cool to persuade some bladesmith to forge something like those

You're looking down another deep rabbit hole! There's huge variety out there...from re-purposing vintage steel to modern...machine made to blacksmith...different metal choices....and that's not even taking into account the different styles.....

I have a random mix of vintage finds and modern stuff. True "saya nomi," as I understand them, aren't just offset, they have a little bit of flex in them to give you more delicate control.
Personally, I don't have one. I have a few old crank neck (sometimes called cranked or dog leg) that i like to use. The offset on them definitely saves the knuckles a little. I'll also use a mix of long paring chisels.

Check out ramelson.com for a source of cheaper options. The dog leg chisels there aren't very pricey but work well.

You can blow some serious big money on chisels and then you have to learn to sharpen them!

I have been using my standard set of motley hand-me down stuff from Grandpa and Great Uncle Charlie (and we are talking 100 years old or better there) and modern stuff I've collected here and there.

The cheapest way to get usable stuff these days is Irwin chisels at the big box stores, in standard English sizes. Very much un-fancy, but they are ground well, sharpen easily, and so far work very nicely for the soft woods normally used for making sayas. Long enough to keep the handle out of the work.

Obviously, offsets would be much nicer, but again you don't have to spend a fortune unless you plan to start a production line. If you have to sharpen every job it's not a big deal if you are making one or two, one or two dozen a day would be a different story.

One thing that is absolutely critical is that the back of the chisel be dead flat all the way to the edge for at least an inch. Otherwise it will NOT bite and take the very thin shavings you need to properly shape the blade clearance slot and won't cut cleanly. You also need a dead flat bevel, but you can use a guide for that, and hollow ground bevels (use a bench grinder) make it very easy to keep the bevel flat at the edge.

Microbevel or not is up to you, but I find a totally flat grind works better for me.

De-burr very carefully, it's easy to roll the edge and if you do it will pull splinters rather than cut, leaving a rough surface.

Flatten you waterstones EVERY use. If you don't even very minor variations from flat will cause the edge to be much less than perfect. This is MUCH more important that when sharpening knives! Every stone in the progression must be dead flat, period.

I've made two sayas so far -- one was in pine, the other in some cottonwood I had lying about because I think it's less reactive than the pine. I may switch back for future knives, the cottonwood was much harder that I expected given the way it behaved on the sawmill.

Peter